Kids growing anxious about bad foods

Here's an interesting twist on the pro-organic movement: kids getting eating disorders because they're so stressed about trans-fats, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colorings and other unhealthy ingredients.

''Sodium makes your heart beat faster, so it can create something really serious,'' said Greye, who is 8 years old and lives in Mays Landing, N.J.

Greye's mother, Beth Dunn, the president of a multimedia company, is proud of her son's nutritional awareness and encourages it by serving organic food and helping Greye read labels on cereal boxes and cans.

''He wants to be healthy,'' she says.

Ms. Dunn is among the legions of parents who are vigilant about their children's consumption of sugar, processed foods and trans fats. Many try to stick to an organic diet. In general, their concern does not stem from a fear of obesity -- although that may figure into the equation -- but from a desire to protect their families from conditions like hyperactivity, diabetes and heart disease, which they believe can be avoided, or at least managed, by careful eating.

While scarcely any expert would criticize parents for paying attention to children's diets, many doctors, dietitians and eating disorder specialists worry that some parents are becoming overzealous, even obsessive, in efforts to engender good eating habits in children. With the best of intentions, these parents may be creating an unhealthy aura around food.

We generally avoid having foods with hydrogenated oils and HFCS in the house (currently making an exception for Girl Scout cookies!!), but some instinct has kept me from getting specific with Belle yet on why we avoid those things. I guess I just don't want her to become fixated on them or fearful, though sometimes when she's begging me to buy junk food I am so tempted to launch into a tirade.

The small fruit has the color of a cranberry, the shape of an almond and tastes like a flavorless gummy.

But after chewing the fruit and rubbing the pulp against the tongue, the berry, known by a promising name -- "miracle fruit" or Synsepalum dulcificum -- releases a sweetening potency that alters the taste buds.

For about 15 to 30 minutes, everything sour is sweet.

Lemons lose their zing and taste like candy. Oranges become sickeningly sweet. Hot sauce that usually burns the tongue tastes like honey barbecue sauce that scorches as it trickles down the throat.

The fruit really would be a miracle if it could get my kids to eat their veggies!